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Report details rise of torture cases in Juárez

By Lourdes Cárdenas \ El Paso Times

Posted:
10/18/2012 12:00:00 AM MDT

JUAREZ -- Human rights organizations on Wednesday released a report that documents the growing cases of torture in Juárez.

The document, which purports to balance an official report that Mexican authorities are expected to present to the United Nations in November, was put together by the Paso del Norte Center for Human Rights and the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Center.

"Torture persists in a systematic way in the entire country," said José Rosario Marroquín of the Miguel Agustín center. "Torture persists because there are many deficiencies in the judicial system, such as the way that crimes are investigated without solid or scientific evidences."

The report indicates that between January and September of this year, 40 cases of torture were documented. The cases involved local, state and federal police and the Mexican army.

The organizations also documented nine instances of people being arrested without reason in cases involving local, state and federal police forces.

The Rev. Oscar Henríquez, a member of the Paso del Norte Center for Human Rights, said torture cases may be underestimated because 90 percent of the victims don't file complaints.

"For us, the challenge is to insist with the victims and convince them to denounce and ask for help," he said.

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Among the most significant cases of torture in the city, the activist cited Israel Arzate's case. Arzate has been charged with murder in the massacre of Villas de Salvárcar, where 15 teenagers were shot to death. He is at home under a protective order because he allegedly was tortured by the army to obtain a confession.

Other cases involve the five men who were originally charged with terrorism in a July 2012 car bomb explosion. The suspects, Noé Fuentes Chavira, Rogelio Amaya Martínez, Víctor Manuel Martínez Rentería, Gustavo Martínez Rentería and Ricardo Fernández Lomelí, alleged that they were forced to confess to the crime. The National Human Rights Commission and the federal police have admitted that the suspects were tortured.

At the state level, the human rights organizations' report includes the cases of brothers Juan Antonio Figueroa, Jesús Iván Figueroa and Luis Adrián Figueroa, who were charged with extortion. The report said the three were isolated and tortured until they confessed.

Another case involving the municipal police mentions Eleazar Rangel Cano, Jesús Vaquera González y Oscar Daniel Cardiel Gonzalez, who were charged with attempted homicide of police officers -- a charge that was dropped -- and later charged with possession of weapons. One of the men, Vaquera Gonzalez, was so badly beaten by the agents that he was left unconscious and then taken to a hospital, the report said.

The cases of two El Pasoans, Shohn Huckabee and Carlos Quijas, who were arrested and tortured by Mexican soldiers in 2009, were not included in the report because they didn't approach the human rights organizations that gathered the information for the report. Amnesty International mentioned both in a recent report.

Leaders of the human rights groups said that they will continue with a local and national campaign to stop torture in the country.

"Since 2011, the Mexican government has said they have tried eliminate torture, but the truth is that this method hasn't disappeared", said Marroquín.

Comments from the municipal police were not available, but Arturo Sandoval, spokes man of the Chihuahua attorney's office, said the agency hasn't received any complaints from relatives or recommendations from the National Human Rights Commission related to torture cases.

ÊLourdes Cárdenas may be reached at lcardenas@ elpasotimes.com; 546-6249.